The Prompting 2019

I'm kinda jumping ahead a little bit, though I do have plans to write a couple blogs about twins down the road. I just wanted to get all this written while it was still fresh.

                                                

In January of 2019, I told Randy that I was baby hungry. He just laughed. Our boys were about 8 months old at the time. We knew that we couldn't afford treatment at the time or another child but I told him that maybe it was the Lord telling us we needed to be praying about WHEN the right time would be. By July of that year we both knew that we needed to go start treatment sometime in 2020. So we planned to shoot for the end of 2020 as we wanted to have our IVF loan payed off completely before starting treatment and this was when we assumed we'd have this done.

Then October came along, we have a huge church conference that's held that first weekend, and as we watched we realized we were wrong on our timeline. Just as a name came giving us a nudge for our twins, I had a name come to me while watching conference. I told Randy and he agreed. Now we just had to figure out HOW and WHEN. We did not want to go into anymore debt if possible and we now had to narrow down our timeline again. As we both felt that we needed to go earlier in the year of 2020.

Then a few miracles happened, we were extremely blessed and at the end of November we paid off our IVF loan. Once that was done we began saving whatever we could to go towards treatment. We had thought that we should plan for May or June for our transfer and that's what we were going to stick to.

But when we paid off that loan so much sooner, we just felt this push that we needed to go even sooner. We knew that a January transfer was out but we could probably do February or March, if I called ASAP. So in the middle of December I called and set up my first consultation appointment to be done over the phone in the beginning of January.

That phone call was basically seeing how my pregnancy with my boys went and to see if I have had any medical changes occur from the time I had last seen them which was when we got pregnant with our boys. We then set up my appointment for the initial blood work and water ultrasound for the end of January.

At the time we didn't understand the prompting for going in for treatment sooner in 2020. But now that we are past that point and know what we do now about the COVID-19 virus and how it would effect all treatment beginning in the middle of March and even now as places are just starting to open up again to begin treatments, we truly understand.

Til next time,
Becca

Post Birth/NICU Story

After we got back to my room it was a whirlwind. They immediately took Evan to the NICU and Randy followed. They let me try to nurse Roger while I was waiting for my epidural to wear off. They had me order food and made me eat before they would let me shower. Once I was showered we changed rooms.

I will write about each baby and their story separately as they both had their own challenges.

Roger-

Roger's blood results that they took right after he was born came back. He had low blood sugar and was COOMBS+. This means that his blood type conflicted with mine. We decided to give him formula as formula binds better with the red blood cells to help his body get rid of them. They said that he would most likely become jaundiced and would be put under the lights.

First time I got to hold both my boys! 

Roger and I went to visit Evan the second day in the hospital 

which is when this was taken.

They had me begin to nurse Roger for 10 minutes per side and then top him off with formula while I was still in the hospital. This way he could help my milk come in but still get the formula in order to help him. I also was pumping every 3 hours to start bringing my milk in as well so that Evan could have some stored up.

They did Roger's hearing test and he failed. They said that this is fairly common and that they'd try again later. The second attempt he passed! They also gave him his first bath. We're a little upset because they didn't tell us until after that they were going to do that. We both wanted to be there and it's still a sore spot for us.

Under the lights, we had to put socks on his hands 

because he kept scratching at his chest. 

Roger ended up under the lights the second day once they had retested his levels and saw they were rising. He was under the lights for 2 days and came out from under them after that so he could have his levels retested. His levels came back good and we were able to take him home that day! It was really hard to take him home without Evan. But it was also interesting because I got to see what it was like having just one newborn at home. It was amazing!

Roger going home!

Evan-

Evan's story is quite a bit longer than Roger's. Once he was in the NICU they hooked him all up to monitors and put him on oxygen since his level was low. He also got some formula to help with low blood sugar. That night we gave Evan a priesthood blessing. I got to see him for the first time since he was born that night. With him all hooked up to the IVs it just made it all too real how close we came to losing him before he was born. I immediately started crying and I was so grateful that we were allowed to give him a blessing because I knew it would help.

Evan all hooked up that first night.

The next morning we got good news! He was taken off oxygen during the night and was doing great! They told us if he continued to do well then he'd be able to come stay in the room with us. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, his temperature was too low because his little body couldn't regulate it and so he was put into an isolette to help him stay warm. We decided with the doctors that an NG tube would be best to help him gain weight and get stronger so his body could regulate temperatures better. He was also hooked up to an IV at some point though I don't remember the reason.

In his isolette.

The next day he was IV free! Though he still had his NG tube. They started allowing him to try to drink from a bottle and anything he wasn't able to drink they'd put through the tube. They wanted him to have at least 20ml per feeding. Each feeding he was able to drink more and more from the bottle. By this point my milk had come in and every one of his feedings was breastmilk! We made it a priority that he got any milk that I pumped. That night they ended up putting him under lights as well because he was becoming slightly jaundiced.

By the next day Evan was taking a bottle with every feeding and sucking them dry! They slowly were increasing how much he got per feeding so that it would continue to help his weight improve. He was also back out from under the lights and was now up to 23ml per bottle. They also started to decrease the temperature on his isolette so they could see how his body handled regulating his temperature. By this point I had been able to store 7 feedings of breastmilk for Evan and so we decided to stop formula with Roger and switch him completely to breastmilk.

By the 4th day they had turned down Evan's isolette temp even more. He also passed his hearing test and had been completely bottle fed for the past 24 hours. They decided that they could remove the NG tube at this point! He also gained back some of the weight he had lost and was almost back to his birth weight! They planned to continue turning down the temp and hoped that he'd be out of the isolette soon. By that night he had graduated from it! They then allowed me to try nursing him and he was doing great. One step closer to him getting to come home. They told us that as long as everything went good that night then he'd get to come home the next day.

Unfortunately, the next day we did not get the good news we hoped for. His temperature was sitting high despite being out of the warmer. They were going to watch them closely to see if anything was wrong that could be causing them. If they didn't go down then they'd run some blood tests. They said that he would for sure be staying at least one more night as a precaution. He is still gaining weight though! This means that he's not working too hard to eat with being warmer. I got a call later that afternoon as we weren't there and told me that they had decided to run some blood tests on him. All of them had come back normal so far. The only one left that hadn't come back was a blood culture which takes 48 hours. They had checked his arm pit temp at 2 and it was 101.3 so they cross checked it with a rectal temp which was at 101. So they were going to start some antibiotics to treat him as if he does have an infection of some sort. This meant he would not be coming home the next day and possibly not the next either. Not much later they called me again and asked for permission to perform a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. I gave them permission. We went to the hospital that evening and were given a whirlwind of info. The spinal tap had a little bit more blood in it than they have seen before and they weren't sure why. They were running more tests to try and figure out why. They started him on 2 antibiotics and 1 antiviral medication as a precaution. Then they did an ultrasound of his head to see if they could see anything that way. A couple hours later we got the ultrasound results. He did not have a bleed or anything else out of the ordinary. They also got the preliminary results back on his spinal tap. These were not normal, his white blood count was high compared to the red and his glucose levels were low. The doctor was in touch with some specialists in Denver to get their opinion and they recommended a full treatment for meningitis. This meant 2-3 weeks or more in the hospital and him being transferred to Denver. I was definitely crying at this point. They said they wouldn't do that right away but it could happen at any point over the next few days. There was also a small chance that they would not have to do this but it was an extremely small chance. That night we gave him another priesthood blessing.

All hooked up to his IV antibiotics and antiviral meds. 

In his favorite place, the mama roo.

The 6th day they were still waiting for the cultures results to come back. They also sent the last little bit of spinal fluid from his tap to the children's hospital in Denver for them to do a broad spectrum test to see if they can find anything that could be causing all this by doing that. His temps are better today! This means that something is helping. He is also still gaining weight! He now was up 3oz from his birth weight.

We didn't get results until day 7 for all the tests they'd run. Everything by that afternoon had come back negative, including the meningitis! If everything came back negative then they'd do an MRI to double check that they didn't miss a bleed. By that evening every test had come back negative and they decided to go ahead with the MRI just as a precaution. They stopped all the antibiotics and the antiviral and they wanted to keep him at least another 24 hours to keep an eye on him. They did the MRI about an hour later and thankfully he slept through it!

The next day we got the MRI results. This is where it can get confusing. Because they usually don't take pictures of babies brains this is all speculation based off of what they think most likely happened. The MRI showed a slight excess of fluid around his brain. After looking closer they discovered a place where it looked like there was a small blood clot. They believe this clot caused a small bleed during birth causing the excess fluid. This explains the fevers and the blood in his spinal fluid. They are referring us to a pediatric hematologist in order to check for reasons behind the blood clot. They said the excess fluid will eventually be reabsorbed and that it is very possible that it was all caused by the trauma of birth. Good news is that as long as he does good tonight with no fevers and as long as he passes the car seat test he'll get to come home tomorrow!

The next day we got the best news ever!!! Evan got to come home!!! This was a huge relief and a blessing especially since only a few days earlier we thought he wouldn't get to come home for a month. 9 days total in the NICU.

Both babies in the car! Headed home!

A week later we made our way to Denver to meet with the pediatric hematologist. There he told us that Evan had had more than one bleed which was news to us and that he wanted to run some blood tests which is what we expected him to do. We told him the blood clotting factors that ran in my family. He called us with the results and everything came back normal for what they ran, which was for bleeding disorders, not clotting. He did not test for the clotting ones that ran in my family which really upset us. You'd think those would be the first ones they tested for. He wanted us to retest when he was a year old but we decided against that. If we do test him for anything we'll test for the ones that run in our family.

Home-

Having 2 newborns at home was a whole different ball game than having just one. After a few days of only getting 20 minutes of sleep every three hours I decided to no longer nurse and just pump and bottle feed. By doing this my schedule went from nursing both my boys, putting them to sleep, pumping 20 minutes per side, then sleeping for the 20 minutes or so before waking up to do it all again, to, pumping 20 minutes per side, feeding my boys, putting them back to sleep, and then I was able to sleep for around an 1hr 30 minutes before waking up to do it all again. Usually if they woke up before I finished pumping this was the time we'd play with them. They were both extremely good sleepers from the beginning but we were required to wake them and feed them every 3 hours per doctors orders since they were premie and had both been jaundiced. At least until they had doubled their birth weights which they did by 1 month old!

Both babies finally home!

 Roger became slightly jaundiced again and so we 

had our front windows open and let him

 lay in the sunlight anytime we could 

until the jaundice was gone.

Til next time!
Becca

Birth Story May 2018

We were so excited and nervous the next morning when our alarm went off to wake us up! We packed up the last few items in our hospital bag (toothbrush, hairbrush, etc.) and once we were dressed we were on our way!

The morning of our induction!

When we first arrived at around 645 am they were all ready for us. They knew we were having twins and our nurse immediately lead us to our room. It was her last day as she was retiring and she was so excited that she was assigned to us! This is where things began to go wrong! She helped us get situated and then started getting my IV line ready. She got the line in but for some reason no fluid was moving through. So she grabbed new tubing, that one also failed. She grabbed another, another fail. Finally, the next one she grabbed worked! Thankfully I was only poked once with all that! Then she started to get the sensors on my belly to monitor my contractions and my boys heart rates. We had a scare when one of the sensors wasn't picking up one of the baby's heartbeats. Thankfully, it was just a bad sensor and the first one they tried worked and they found his heartbeat! We were so relieved! Once this was done she went to get the disposable bed pads placed under me. The first one she opened up immediately tore! The next one didn't and she was able to get it placed. Once all that was done she gave us some advice. She said that she wanted us to really get an idea for what labor was like before I got the epidural. We agreed with her that that was what we wanted to do. I can't remember her reason for doing it that way but I am grateful that we did. 

My doctor came in around 830 to check me. I was dilated to a 4 and was 80% effaced. At this point they broke my water and put a heart rate sensor on Baby A's head and removed the sensor from around my belly for him. This way I had fewer things wrapped around me. My doctor told me they would check back on me later. My contractions began to increase almost immediately after my water was broken.

About an hour later they got me hooked up to penicillin as a precaution as my group b strep test hadn't come back yet. At the same time my nurse started me on the lowest dose pitocin that she could since I was already contracting on my own.

At about 11 I was starting to contract every 3 minutes or so and I realized that I had to use the restroom. So we called my nurse and she unhooked me from everything she could and I went to the restroom, with Randy's help. It was a terrible experience, we'll just leave it at that. Once done we went out and my nurse hooked me all back up. I told her that I thought I was ready for the epidural and she agreed with me. 

The anesthesiologist got there around 1130 and began the process of giving me my epidural. I got all situated and he began the process of numbing. Once numb he went to insert the epidural needle but couldn't get it in the area he needed it to go. He asked if I could lean forward anymore, I could not, 2 babies were blocking my way. He ended up having to numb a different section that was slightly lower and then was able to successfully place the epidural. It was amazing! I could still feel my legs to the point that they just felt like they'd fallen asleep but I was still able to move them on my own for the most part. The pain of the contractions went away but I could still feel when they occurred. 

My doctor came in a few minutes later to check me. I was now at a 5.5 and 90% effaced. My dad asked my doctor what her guess was for me to give birth. She said most likely between 5 and 6 pm, if not later.

Now that the pain was gone I tried to sleep a little bit, I didn't have much success as so many things were going on around me and I was excited!

 At around 130, I started to have the feeling like I needed to push. I was just about to call my nurse when she walked in with my doctor. My contractions had gotten close enough together that they wanted to check me. My doctor barely checked before saying that I was at a 10 and ready to push! Unfortunately, I couldn't, as I was required to deliver in the OR as a precaution. They were scrambling to get it ready as they had just done a c-section not long before and it wasn't finished being cleaned. We were prepped, Randy got his suit on and I got my cap and after a little while it was cleaned and we were ready to go!

We had a crowd in the OR with us. Randy was the only person allowed back with me of family. There was my doctor plus a nurse at my feet. My assigned nurse talking me through contractions and pushing. The anesthesiologist who was there just in case an emergency c-section was needed. An extra doctor for the same reason. 2 nurses per baby so 4 total. Another nurse who was ready with an ultrasound machine to check the position of Baby B once A was out if needed. Plus myself and Randy.

Nobody ever talks about how much waiting there is between contractions. It was weird, I guess Hollywood made me think it was super quick with super close contractions and almost constant pushing. I had about a minute rest in between each contraction. Don't ask me how many pushes it took to get Baby A out, I have no idea. I wasn't focused on that! All I know is that we got into the OR around 220/230. And Baby A was born at 246 pm! Randy cut the cord and the nurses assigned to him immediately took him over to clean him up and check him out. He was 5lbs 11oz, 18 inches long. The funniest thing to me that I remember was that as soon as he was out I literally watched my belly roll as Baby B changed position and as it flattened slightly with the extra space and now loose skin. To help you picture it, think of someone doing a belly dance where they roll from side to side and top to bottom all at the same time! LOL!

My doctor immediately put her arm in (thank you epidural!) to see where Baby B was and told the nurse with the ultrasound that it wasn't needed as he had moved so he was head down. She had me push very lightly as she guided him carefully into the birth canal. As this was going on they let me meet Baby A for a short time. He was so handsome! Then took him back over to the bed they had for him once the doctor needed me to do the light pushing.

Then it was time to push again! The doctor had to call Randy back over for the second baby to be delivered as he was still with Baby A. Baby B was a much quicker delivery I think I only pushed once or twice with him before he was born. He was born at 252 pm! Randy cut his cord as well and his nurses immediately took him over to be checked out. He was 4lbs 4oz, 18 inches long. 

I still wasn't finished yet as I needed to deliver the placentas. Thankfully this was super easy as I didn't even need to push as they delivered by themselves. As soon as Baby B's placenta was out my doctor said that it was the reason for my preeclampsia. It was smaller than it should have been and was failing. Knowing this we were even more grateful for our doctor's decision and ours to induce instead of wait. We can only imagine what would have happened if we hadn't. 

They then let Randy hold both boys at the same time! They actually let him carry them both back to our delivery room. They handed me Baby A so I could try to nurse him. Randy left to follow the nurses who had Baby B as he needed a little extra help and so he was taken to the NICU/Nursery. It was a little bit later that Randy came back to the room and updated us on Baby B. I'll go into all of that in the next blog post! It was during this time that we discussed what their names were going to be. I said what I thought their names should be and Randy thought the opposite. It wasn't until he held them both again that he ended up agreeing with me!

Meet Roger Wade (top) and Evan Frank (bottom)!

Til next time!

Becca